


Rising Tensions

by Aquilaneo



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Undertale Multiverse | UTMV (Undertale), Bad Sanses | Nightmare's Gang (Undertale), Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Minor Violence, Nightmare and Dream are brothers, Sanses fight each other, Star Sanses (Undertale), i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29116575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquilaneo/pseuds/Aquilaneo
Summary: Dream and Nightmare have kept their brotherly relationship a secret from the Star Sanses for years. But when Dream saves one of Nightmare's gang, he finds it harder to keep it a secret.Set in the Operation Therapy Kidnapping timeline by Qweezy0w0 and inspired by Fond Memories by MiraiAmaterasu
Relationships: Nightmare & Dream
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	1. Something Happens

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fond Memories](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219245) by [MiraiAmaterasu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraiAmaterasu/pseuds/MiraiAmaterasu). 



> Inspired by Fond Memories by MiraiAmaterasu
> 
> takes place in the Operation Therapy Kidnapping timeline by Qweezy0w0
> 
> (first fic... what else am I supposed to write here?)

As years passed, Dream and Nightmare kept their relationship, with Dream secretly hanging out with his brother's gang while ~~sparring~~ fighting with them when they met on the battlefield.

Except, it was getting harder and harder for Dream to keep doing that when the star sanses had gotten stronger.  
Before, both sides were evenly matched- Dream could easily fight with them without worrying about either side being seriously hurt. 

But Ink had recruited half a dozen Sanses from different AUs a few years ago to join their cause. It was harder to keep sparring when the so-called 'bad Sanses' , ~~his friends~~ , were getting overwhelmed. It was hard to keep fighting while secretly worrying about his brother and his friends, watching from the corner of his eye while trying to go easy on his opponent.

He had began to spend more and more time with his brother as time passed. And as time passed, he watched as his brother struggled to stay alive as negative emotions died out. He tried to hold back when spreading positive emotions as a result, but Nightmare had found out and scolded him for doing so, telling him not to do it again. It wasn't like it had helped much anyways - doing so had weakened himself while only giving a slight boost to Nightmare, not enough to help him. Dream couldn't produce negative emotions, after all. The balance between positive and negative was starting to unravel, and they would have to do something about it soon.

He watched as the gang struggled to find food to sustain themselves when it was so difficult to raid AUs while outnumbered and outmatched by Ink and his Sanses. He noticed how their food supply had started to run low as he visited. Horror had gotten a number of panic attacks lately, and Dream could see that Nightmare was struggling to keep it together. So he had resorted to smuggling some food into the castle where they lived. It wasn't enough, but it had helped.

* * *

A few days after visiting his brother, Dream found himself in one of the Underfell AUs, which Nightmare was raiding for food. The Sans of the timeline had alerted them to the attack, and so the Star Sanses had come to stop them. They had found Nightmare and his boys in Snowden forest and attacked.

Ink was fighting with Cross, Blue was fighting with Killer, and Dream was fighting with his brother. The rest of the Star Sanses were fighting with Horror and Dust.

Dream dodged a tentacle, whipping out an arrow and sending it at Nightmare, clipping his shoulder. His brother hissed a few curses under his breath in frustration as Dream smirked and lunged with his tentacles. In response, Dream jumped out of range, sending another arrow which Nightmare managed to dodge. "You can do better than that, brother."

"Do you want to have a bad time, then?" said Dream, shooting another volley that Nightmare managed to dodge. Both of them knew that Dream was going easy on Nightmare, especially since Nightmare had been weakened by the decrease of negative emotions.

As they continued their fight, Dream watched the rest of Nightmare's gang. Cross was holding his own against Ink, and neither seemed to be able to gain the upper hand. Ink was creating shield after shield, trying to slow down Cross's attacks so that he would have a chance to counter, but Cross kept cutting them down. Blue and Killer were also evenly matched, but Horror and Dust, surrounded by the other Sans and outnumbered, were struggling.  
A stinging pain brought Dream back to his own fight as Nightmare managed to scratch his forehead. His gaze was annoyed, turquoise eye glowing brightly, as if telling Dream to keep up the act. Dream grinned in reply, shooting a few arrows in return before more subtly watching the boys.

Killer had turned to help Dust and Horror, and the three were now fighting Blue and the other Sanses, struggling to fend them off. As Dream watched, Blue and the other skeletons launched a barrage of bones at Killer, heading straight for his target-shaped soul. Killer managed to deflect most of them, but one bone managed to get past his defense. It headed toward his chest, where is soul glowed.

Without thinking, Dream whirled around, nocked an arrow, and shot, barely dodging his brother's tentacles. A thrum filled the air as he loosed. For a moment, the arrow hissed through the air. 

Then it intercepted the lone bone, pining it to the trunk of a nearby tree with a dull thud.

Everyone froze. It suddenly became very quiet, the sounds of fighting dying down.

Blue blinked, thinking it was a hallucination. Then he blinked again, the arrow stuck to the trunk proof of what Dream had done.

Dream realized what he had done, his smile dropping as he struggled to keep his face blank.

Nightmare froze.

"D-Dream?" said one of the Sanses timidly

The noise brought Nightmare out of his stupor. Quickly lashing out with his tentacles he brought his boys to him, snagging Dream as an afterthought and teleporting straight to his castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued . . . probably. possibly. hopefully. maybe. Writing skills need work....
> 
> Thanks for reading and have a good day.


	2. Disbelief

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

Nightmare’s roar of anger filled the Castle. The rest of the gang stood frozen in shock, still comprehending what just happened.   
Dream winced.”Calm down, brother, I - “

“Calm down. CALM DOWN? We both have our images to maintain in the multiverse. You’re one of the star Sanses, I’m one of the bad Sanses, and you freaking HELPED KIL -”

“BROTHER!”

Dreams’s sudden shout shocked Nightmare into silence. After all, Dream didn’t yell very often. 

“Yes, we both have images in the multiverse to maintain, but if you think about it, I didn’t really ruin your image- after all, I’m the one who shot the arrow. And while I’m the one who shot the arrow, the multiverse sees me as a pacifist. They’d sooner believe that I shot the arrow because I didn’t want anyone to die, not that I shot the arrow because I didn’t want you or your gang to die. Also, what was I supposed to do? Just let Killer die?”

“He’s right, Boss,” said Killer, having recovered from his shock. “It’s not the end of the world, we’ll just have to be more careful in the future.”

Nightmare sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But what about the Star Sanses? They know you well and while we’ve been trying to be subtle, it’s not like they wouldn’t have noticed something. What did you tell them the first time we kidnapped you?”

“I made up an excessively long story with a lot of unnecessary details to bore them into not caring anymore. It worked.”

“So you didn’t tell them anything about us,” Nightmare said thoughtfully.

“No.”

“What did you do for all the other times, then?”

“I misled them, lied, or avoided the topic altogether. It worked. Besides, if I’m gone for less than a week they don’t notice at all.”

“So we can probably just teleport you back to them and have you explain.”

“Yeah probably - WAIT!”

“Good luck brother.”

Dream vanished, having been sent to Underswap. Even if Ink wasn’t there, surely Blue would be.

“Boss, are you sure that he can throw off their suspicion?”

Nightmare sighed, sitting down in his chair and closing his eyes. “He’s been doing this for a while if he has to do this when we kidnap him. Dream is capable enough to deal with the consequences of his own actions. After all, he’s the one who shot the arrow, not me. I’m not in the mood for this.”

Then he smiled. “We could probably try and raid another AU while they’re distracted…”  
* * *  
Meanwhile, at Blue’s house, Ink was pacing back and forth. They had dropped off the other Sans in their respective AUs with little explanation, despite their protests, then returned to Underswap to mull over what had happened.

Ink knew that Dream and Nightmare were brothers, but… they hated each other. Right?  
Nightmare had imprisoned Dream in stone, Dream had helped form the Star Sanses that protected AUs from him and others, Dream had fought his brother on a weekly basis, Nightmare had fought back… and Dream had saved _Killer_ , of all people. Not his brother, but his brother’s lackey, someone he shouldn’t care about at all.

Although, Dream cared about everyone. That was a well-known fact. He was a pacifist, even if he fought alongside Ink and Blue against Error and Nightmare. 

But recently, Dream had been acting strangely. He would disappear at random intervals then appear again.

It had started a few years ago when Dream had gone missing for a whole week. When he had come back he had launched into a long explanation that Ink only half-listened to, going on about doing this and doing that. If Ink didn’t know better, he would say that Dream was trying to hide something. But Dream, Guardian of Positivity, epitome of everything good, would never lie to his friends.

Right?

What would he have to hide anyways?

The few months after the incident were normal, but then Dream vanished. Again. 

He had returned, said something about a few obscure AUs and what he did there, then went back to work. Again.

He didn’t mind it first. But then he noticed that Dream was vanishing every few months or so.   
Half of those times in the middle of battle- battle with his brother. And Dream would never plan for these gaps in his schedule, having to rush, rush, rush to get what he had missed done. 

Which was very unlike him.

Eventually, while discussing their friend, Blue had brought up the fact that when Dream vanished, he always seemed to be tired, at his weakest. They both knew that Dream would overwork himself sometimes,despite Blue and Ink’s efforts to make him rest, and it always seemed to be when he was on the verge of the collapse that he’d disappear.

So at first they had thought that Nightmare was the culprit, taking advantage of his brother while weak.

Except, despite what he told them he had been doing when he was gone, he always looked refreshed and relaxed when he came back. Nightmare wouldn’t treat his brother that well. Nightmare hated Dream, fought with him constantly, wanted to kill him. . . 

Right?

There was no way that Nightmare would be taking care of his brother.

And yet, on the battlefield he would notice that Dream seemed to be pulling his punches. He would watch Nightmare’s concentration waver as he watched his brother… fondly?

But that wasn’t possible.

Right?

Besides, it _definitely_ wasn’t suspicious that it was impossible to track Dream when he vanished. Ink had tried. 

And now Dream had saved one of Nightmare’s gang. 

But Dream _couldn’t_ be friends with them, even if Nightmare was his brother.

Right?  
* * *  
Blue was . . . confused. 

Dream had just saved Killer. _Killer_ of all people. Even if Dream had been acting suspiciously lately, there was no way he would save Killer. 

And yet, that bone was still pinned to a trunk by an arrow in Underfell Snowdin. Proof.

He could still remember the panic on Dream’s face when he saw the bone. Everyone had froze, then Nightmare had teleported them away to wherever he lives when not destroying aus. He had seemed… shocked? Panicked? Angry? He hoped Dream was okay. 

But why would Dream save Killer? He didn’t care about him.

Well, Dream cared about everyone. 

Maybe that was it.

No one had died so far in the battles between the Star Sanses and the Bad Sanses. Yes, some civilians had been killed by the Bad Sanses, but during the actual fighting between them? No. 

Maybe that was why. Dream didn’t want anyone to die in battle. 

That made sense.

Blue wouldn’t want anyone to die, either.

Although, Blue would still ask Dream when they found him. They should’ve probably started searching for him earlier, but they had been too shocked by what they had witnessed. Blue got up from where he was sitting, going to where Ink was pacing, muttering to himself.  
“Ink,” he said.

“Hm?” Ink jumped, having been lost in thought.

“Shouldn’t we look for Dream now? After all, Nightmare took him.”

“O-oh. Sure!” said Ink. “But…Where do we start?”

If Blue had any idea of where Nightmare might be, he didn’t get to tell Ink, because at that moment, Dream stumbled through a portal, which promptly closed behind him.

“Dream!” Blue was at Dream’s side within seconds, checking him for wounds. Ink hung back but nevertheless watched Dream, concerned for his friend.  
“I’m fine,” said Dream, nervous. 

There was a sudden silence. None of them knew what to say, but Dream knew what they would ask. He sighed, preparing himself as Ink broke the silence. 

“Nightmare didn’t do anything to you?” he asked cautiously.

“No,” said Dream carefully. “He was confused over why I saved Killer and wanted to ask me why. I explained that I didn’t want anyone to die. Then he promptly laughed at me for being too ‘weak’ to let someone die, said something about me being a ‘pathetic, soft-hearted, idiot,’ and dumped me here.”

Blue sighed in relief. It looks like he was right; Dream would never be friends with Nightmare. He was just a pacifist. Ink was less believing, but accepted Dream’s explanation. It was reasonable, after all. 

There was no way he’d actually be friends with Nightmare’s gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and have a good day!


	3. Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare ruins his reputation.

It was only a few minutes after Dream had returned when Ink was contacted by one of the Sanses. Apparently, Nightmare had taken advantage of their confusion over Dream’s actions and attacked another AU. Not having time to gather up the other Sanses, Ink, Blue, and Dream went alone. 

When they arrived, landing on one of the buildings’ rooftops, the AU was in chaos.  
Nightmare had chosen one of the more peaceful AUs to attack, and the monsters here had made it to the surface. It had been a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, Flowers were blooming. And yet on days like these, AUs like these were experiencing hell.

A flash of silver could be seen from the Star Sanses’ position, presumably Horror’s axe. It rose and fell, cutting down monsters and humans alike and leaving dust and blood in its wake. To the left, a pile of dust and several blue bones was all that remained of the Sans who had tried in vain to fight them. To the right of the city, several tentacles made quick work of the civilians. A knife coated with blood and dust guarded Nightmare’s back as he worked.

Knowing Nightmare had probably already sensed his presence, Dream nocked an arrow, staying where he stood as Ink and Blue charged. The arrow hummed between his fingertips as he drew back, a glowing beam of positivity. Raising his bow, he aimed and fired, the string slipping past his fingers. 

A hiss through the air- then a clang as Killer deflected the arrow with his knife.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Dream tried again, shooting arrows in twos and threes, trying to overwhelm them as they moved through the city. Those that weren’t dodged were deflected, and Killer childishly stuck out his tongue at Dream. Dream glared.

While Nightmare was vulnerable to his arrows since they were made of positivity, his arrows were also easy to detect (and dodge) because of their aura and their glow. Dream sighed, watching as the fighting moved farther away. Soon, the Sanses had congregated in the city center, and Dream abandoned his position to join them, converting his bow to a staff.

Charging into the fray, he was met by Dust and Cross, one smirking and wielding knives, the other with a playful look in his eyes. To fend them off, Dream split his staff into two blades. He dodged as Cross lunged with his knife, parrying the next strike, then leapt over a series of bones Dust had sent his way. 

Summoning his bow once more in midair he created two arrows, nocking, aiming, and firing in a span of seconds. He sighed when Cross deflected with his knife and Dust dodged, the arrow only managing to lightly graze his arm. “You’re still too slow, Dream,” he said. Dream glared, intent on proving them wrong. Cross laughed. Dream’s glare was ~~cute~~ not very threatening.

Before they had recovered, Dream was upon them, both of his blades out. A loud clang rang through the air as their weapons met. They bounced back, then clashed again. Trying to overwhelm Dream, Cross and Dust increased the speed of their attacks, relentlessly summoning bones, knives, and the occasional blaster. Dream dodged, bouncing lightly on his feet, shooting arrows as he slowly retreated under the onslaught. Both sides paused a bit to catch their breath, a mischievous light in their eyes, before charging at each other once more.

To the right, Ink and Nightmare were fighting. Ink was using ink to block Nightmare’s attacks, summoning bones that flew at Nightmare. Nightmare dodged, lunging with his tentacles at Ink, who quickly teleported behind him. Nightmare twisted around, looking for his opponent, and promptly vanished into the shadows before Ink could land a strike. Ink looked around, holding broomy out defensively in front of him as he tried to find Nightmare.

Behind them, Blue was fighting with Killer and Horror, the ground where they stood charred by blasters and littered with bones. Neither of them were able to land a hit on one another. Blue was quick on his feet, dodging everything that came his way. Killer and Horror were trying to corner Blue with little success. Dream could hear the whistle and thud of bones on the ground as they missed. 

Suddenly Dream heard a whir behind him. Whirling around, he was faced with the glow of one of Blue’s blasters. 

Blue’s eyes went wide with panic. He had been aiming at Killer, who had happened to be behind Dream and teleported out of the way. And it was too late to pull back his magic. 

Dream could hear someone yelling his name as the blast neared him. Summoning whatever positivity and magic he could find, he pushed it out in front of him, golden light flooding out of his palm into his blades, which he used to shield himself

This should have protected him. Except, there wasn’t much positivity in the AU. All he could feel from his friends on both sides was panic and fear. The people of this AU didn’t have much positivity either, after all that had happened.

His blades wavered. Dream grit his teeth, pushing more and more magic into them, searching for positive feelings in nearby AUs. 

It wasn’t enough.

His blades falling from his grip, Dream was thrown to the ground as the full force of the blaster hit him, a scorching pain echoing through his bones. And then it… stopped?

In front of him was a wall of assorted bones and a shield of goop which seemed to suck away all the light near it. It absorbed the remainder of the blast as a knife plunged through the blaster, destroying it.  
Cross landed in front of Blue with a fierce glare, crossing his arms before turning to check on Dream.

The goop retreated, and Nightmare pulled back his magic as he emerged from the shadows, tentacles curled protectively around his little brother. The bones sank back into the ground as Killer, Horror, and Dust drew back their magic as well. 

The fighting had, obviously, stopped. Just like the day when Dream had saved Killer, there was silence. Ink was frozen, at a loss for words. Blue was in a state of shock. The Star Sanses stared at Nightmare’s gang, watching as they walked toward Dream, concern in their eyes, watching as Nightmare helped his brother up. His reputation as evil didn’t matter anymore. His baby brother had been injured. 

He surveyed his brother, gaze sweeping up and down. “Are you okay?” he asked softly, words breaking the heavy silence.

Dream winced as he stood, blades vanishing. He could feel the shock of the Star Sanses radiating off of them, and the relief from his brother. Slowly, with the influx of positive emotions, he healed himself, glowing golden before replying, “I’m fine.” 

His gaze traveled to the Star Sanses, who still stood stupefied. He sighed. “We should probably find a place to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
> 
> Note: Dream canonically has knives/swords/blades that he can summon from his staff, it's just almost never portrayed.
> 
> Wrote most of this during Latin class. Struggled through fight scenes and dialogue . . . was trying to find a good place to put dialogue in the middle of a fight. Also struggled to making fight scenes interesting and with variety since some of the Sans's attacks are very similar. Hope it isn't to monotonous.


	4. Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A choice is forced upon Dream

They had called a temporary truce and found a random AU where monsters had made it to the surface, bought some takeout, and sat down at a picnic table. As they ate, Nightmare had explained, with an even, firm, tone with no hint of nervousness whatsoever, that he and Dream were on good terms. Starting from the first kidnapping to the recent battles, he explained it all, Dream adding on when he felt he needed to. When they finally finished explaining, there was a long silence. Cross fidgeted nervously as he watched both sides, uneasy. Blue was in a stupor, but Ink seemed to have been expecting it. He spoke.

“So let me get this straight. You two,” Ink pointed to Nightmare and Dream, “are actually friends, and have been friends for the last few years. And you,” he pointed to Dream, “kept it secret from us all.”

“Uh… yes?” said Dream, timidly.

Ink sighed. Then “You need to choose a side. Nightmare’s, or the Star Sanses.”

“Aren’t I on your side already?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Can’t we just talk about this? Find a way and-”

“No. Choose.”

Dream went silent, thinking, his face not betraying an ounce of emotion. He could feel Ink’s emotions radiating off of him: reluctance, frustration, anger at Dream for lying . . . 

He could also feel Nightmare’s outrage and fear- fear of losing his brother a second time, fear of having to fight him, having to be split apart. 

“What do you mean, he needs to choose a side? We’ve been keeping this secret for so long, can’t we just keep this up? Dream is my brother. Even if we’ve fought with each other, hurt each other, we’re still brothers. The Mul-”

“Brother.”  
Dream’s voice was soft but firm, and it halted Nightmare’s tirade. He had made his decision. Standing up straight, his normally soft yellow gaze sharp and defiant, he strode over to his brother’s side. “I choose this side.”

Blue’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Dream sighed. “You heard me.” He looked to Ink. “If we can’t just talk about this, and I have to choose a side, then I choose Nightmare’s side.”

Ink exploded. “Why would you do that?! They’re murderers, insane psychos that live only to destroy-”

Dream lifted a hand, silencing him. “You and I both know that’s not true. After all, you’ve met Cross before, haven’t you?” 

The skeleton mentioned lifted his head, holding Ink’s gaze until he looked away. “I guess…” he admitted weakly.

“Ink has a point, though,” said Blue, having recovered from his shock. “Even if they aren’t completely heartless, they’re still murderers. You know what they do to AUs.”

“Yes, I know.” Dream let his gaze sweep over the gang “I won’t join them in doing so either. But if you guys get involved…” He looked back at Ink. “I’ll protect them.”

“But...why?” asked Ink. 

“They’re my friends. Nightmare’s my brother. And while I consider both of you friends as well,” Dream said, looking toward Ink and Blue, “I -” he broke off, sighing. “Whatever. Just know that I have my reasons.”

“Reasons. Okay. And what of the multiverse?” asked Ink, angry now. “Will you keep helping the people in them?”

“Yes, if they want it,” said Dream.

“Dream. . .” Nightmare said softly, turning to him. “Brother. . . are you sure? They’re… This. . .”

“Nightmare, both you and I know that the balance is, well, going out of balance. And we’re supposed to guard it. To restore it,” Dream said, “you need my help. Even if you don’t admit it.”

“Wait…” said Blue. “Balance? Is that why you’re . . .” ~~_betraying us?_~~  
Ink’s gaze was both angry and questioning. “What balance?”

“The balance between positivity and negativity, creation and destruction” said Dream. “Too much positivity or too much negativity will have negative effects on the multiverse.” He held Ink’s gaze, making sure he understood. “It used to be the latter, and the forces of positivity were weaker, so I helped form the Star Sanses. But right now there’s too little negativity, especially ever since the Star Sanses expanded. Similarly...” he hesitated, then forged on. “Too much creation or destruction is harmful, and too much is being created, too little destroyed”

“Right now, the Star Sanses are stronger than the Bad Sanses. Strong enough that the balance is starting to tip. By being on this side, I can fix that.”

Ink stood in shock. Then he said, “Have it your way.” Dream could feel Ink’s sharp fury and betrayal as he turned, creating a portal. “See you on the battlefield, then.” He left, Blue looking back before following. 

* * *  
Dream had held fast talking with Ink, trying to present a strong front. It had seemed as if he hadn’t cared much about his decision. ~~About betraying his friends~~

In reality, though…  
He didn’t want to choose. He didn’t want to lose Ink _or_ his brother, the two families he had made over time. Yes, he had grown more distant from the Star Sanses. Yes, they had stopped spending time with each other, only meeting to fight together on the battlefield.

But that didn’t mean that he didn't consider them friends.

Part of him wanted to go to Ink and beg him to understand. But he knew doing so would be a waste of effort. Ink was soulless; there were some things he _couldn’t_ understand.

As soon as they reached Nightmare’s castle, Dream’s knees buckled, the enormity of what he’d just done crashing down upon him. Nightmare was there in an instant, catching him. “Dream,” he said worriedly, “Are you all right?”

“I… “ he trailed off. “Give me a moment.”

Nightmare waited as Dream sobbed, tentacles rubbing soothing circles on his back. The gang surrounding him protectively, offering silent comfort and support.

* * *  
“Why?”

It was evening, a few hours after what had happened. Nightmare and Dream were lounging on a couch. Horror was off cooking dinner, Killer and Cross training, and Dust sneaking around somewhere in the castle. A sense of normalcy had been reestablished, although the incident was still fresh in their mind.

“Why,” asked Nightmare again when Dream didn’t answer, “did you choose… this?”

Dream turned, looking his brother in the eye. “I didn’t want to lose you. And while I was talking with Ink… I kept thinking about the apple incident.” He felt, more than saw, Nightmare’s flinch. “How I wasn’t there for you when… you know.”

Silence. 

“I didn’t want to make that same mistake again.”

A blink, and then Nightmare was hugging Dream. 

No words were spoken after that.

No words needed to be spoken.

* * *  
A few days later, Error stormed into Nightmare’s castle, yelling questions. Nightmare had quickly filled him in on what had happened. Error had sought out Dream after, wanting to properly meet him since they had only ever fought each other, and the two had become acquaintances, if not friends.

* * *  
A week later, the Bad Sanses went to destroy an AU, Dream with them. Ink had immediately lashed out at him, the other Sanses that he had recruited targeting him as well. Blue, however, had held back, reluctance shining in his bright blue eyes.

Dream hadn’t fought back much, just keeping them at bay. The AU they had found was destroyed.

“Are you happy now?” Ink had snarled, the other Sanses glaring angrily.

Dream had been badly wounded as a result, despite the attempts of Nightmare and his gang to protect him. It was several weeks before he recovered.

* * *  
A month later, the multiverse had learned of Dream’s ~~betrayal~~ choice. Dream had explained the balance to some of the AUs, explaining his actions. Some AUs had started to turn him away when he came to help, but, surprisingly, some were almost… understanding? In any way, he continued to help the multiverse, providing a listening ear and good advice to those who needed it.

* * *  
Three months later, when Nightmare was destroying an AU, Dream fought Ink and found that his anger had diminished significantly. The other Sanses had stopped targeting Dream.

Nightmare also gave them an order to kidnap Blue.

* * *  
A year later, Blue had become friends with Nightmare’s gang, growing particularly close to Dust. Nightmare was a lot more careful with Blue after the past incident, and Ink, luckily, didn’t find out.

* * *  
Two years later, Error showed up at Nightmare’s castle grinning like a cat who had eaten a canary. What had happened, he wouldn’t tell.

* * *  
Two years and three months later, Error dragged Ink to Nightmare’s castle.

The resulting chaos led Error to regret it.

* * *  
Two years and five months later, a truce was made.

And Dream was happy.

His two families were finally one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably really out of character. I had trouble figuring out how this was gonna go with Ink especially since he plays a major role in this story but not in the timeline this story takes place, so there wasn't much to base him off of. I settled for slightly antagonistic but able to eventually overcome it (if that makes sense). I also put my own interpretation of the balance, which is definitely not canon (and probably not fanon either) but after a lot of thought i decided I'd go with it.  
> Dream is also a bit out of character, but I wanted him to stand firm when confronted with the choice. If it wasn't clear, there were two reasons why he chose the way he did. His brother and the gang (mainly), and the balance, which I put hints about it tipping in the first chapter. I wanted him to stay true to his ideals when making his decision, so this was the result.  
> The ending wasn't what I thought it would be. originally, i wanted a truce, and an immediate one. later as i wrote this version came out. it seemed more realistic (and had more angst :)), so i kept it, even though it grew rushed.  
> I might write some more stuff within this universe (this was pretty rushed), we'll see.
> 
> Thank you for reading and have a great day! (or night)!


End file.
